Investigate HIS June July 2012

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How the Government is stitching up your life on UN orders, ahead of Rio+20

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Growing fears Japan’s reactor could poison the world – what it means to NZ

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12 RAW DEAL

EXCLUSIVE: We’re being told the cost of a new harbour bridge or tunnel is up to $5.6 billion. We’re told other major infrastructure projects will cost billions. So you’ll be shocked when you see what people overseas are paying. IAN WISHART has more

22 FUKUSHIMA

A viral email claims the stricken Japanese reactor is poised to become the most devastating nuclear incident in Earth history. Worringly, they could be right.

28 TOXIC TVS

It turns out the studies on flame retardant chemicals added to furniture and appliances were flawed, that they might not work, and your furniture might be toxic

HERS AGENDA 21

The UN wants to stitch up your life at Rio+20, and NZ has played a big role in laying the groundwork

12

HIS/contents opinion

04 /EDITOR Speaks for itself, really 06 /COMMUNIQUES Your say 08 /EYES RIGHT Richard Prosser 10 /STEYNPOST Mark Steyn

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36 /INVEST Peter Hensley on money

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38 The latest toys 39 The Mall 42 Online with Chillisoft

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44 /BOOKCASE Michael Morrissey’s Winter picks 46 /CONSIDERTHIS Amy Brooke

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editor

Parliament and the media were rocked as Internal Affairs staff testified how Yan had boasted he had powerful MPs as friends who would ensure he got citizenship

Possum in the headlights

I

4 HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012

t has been fascinating to watch the news media suddenly find their mojo over Labour MP Shane Jones granting citizenship to an alleged Chinese criminal, Yang Liu, aka Bill Liu, aka William Yan, aka Yan Yong Ming.

It’s a story this magazine’s digital editions broke four years ago, on the eve of the 2008 election. Surprisingly, after a one day flurry, no major media except the Herald wanted to dig deeper into why a Cabinet minister of Jones’ experience would want to go directly against official advice and award a New Zealand passport to a man already travelling on fake Chinese passports and wanted in that country for an alleged two hundred million dollar fraud.

As the story developed, it turned out Jones was not alone. Another Labour highflyer, David Cunliffe, had also gone against official recommendations and refused to revoke Yan’s residency.

Yan, Investigate discovered, had donated thousands of dollars to Labour and National leading up to the election.

The murk got deeper when we found an eight thousand dollar donation to Yan’s good friend, Labour MP Dover Samuels, made by one “Tamaki Wu” according to the official donation records. The problem was, what kind of Asian has a Maori first name?

Tamaki Wu’s address turned out to be a house owned by Daniel Phillips, who just happened to work as an advisor to Shane Jones.

Adding to the murk, Daniel’s brother Shane Phillips was working for Yan for a $10,000 fee to get him citizenship.

For four years, Jones refused to answer questions.

Then, late May, the court case from hell as Yan Yong Ming stood trial for immigration fraud.

Parliament and the media were rocked as Internal Affairs staff testified how Yan had boasted he had powerful MPs as friends who would ensure he got citizenship regardless of the Department’s concerns about Yan’s background.

For nearly a week, Labour leader David Shearer tried to tough it out, but in the end he had no choice – calling in the AuditorGeneral to investigate the case and standing down Shane Jones from his shadow portfolios in the meantime.

It’s taken four years, but the arrow Investigate magazine fired in October 2008 finally found its target.

communiques

Volume 10, Issue 132, ISSN 1175-1290 [Print] Chief Executive Officer Heidi Wishart Group Managing Editor Ian Wishart NZ EDITION Advertising Josephine Martin

09 373-3676 sales@investigatemagazine.com Contributing Writers: Hal Colebatch, Amy Brooke, Chris Forster, Peter Hensley, Mark Steyn, Chris Philpott, Michael Morrissey, Miranda Devine, Richard Prosser, Claire Morrow, James Morrow, Len Restall, Laura Wilson, and the worldwide resources of MCTribune Group, UPI and Newscom Art Direction Heidi Wishart Design & Layout Bozidar Jokanovic Tel: +64 9 373 3676 Fax: +64 9 373 3667 Investigate Magazine, PO Box 188, Kaukapakapa, Auckland 0843, NEW ZEALAND AUSTRALIAN EDITION Editor Ian Wishart Advertising sales@investigatemagazine.com Tel/Fax: 1-800 123 983 SUBSCRIPTIONS Online: www.investigatemagazine.com

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6 HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012

THE GREAT DIVIDE The Great Divide is the book that somebody had to write. The 1860 Kohimarama Conference should be a landmark in NZ’s cultural history, much more so than the also-significant Treaty of Waitangi: An Explanation by Sir Apirana Ngata. It beggars belief that these things are known of by NZ-ers in such inverse proportion to their importance. I for one knew nothing of the Kohimarama Conference until I read your book.

It is very interesting to discover that such momentous factual information is online in official archives for all to discover for themselves, yet the people who are allegedly the best experts that our public money can buy, remain (prefer to remain?) ignorant. The state of things in NZ today is such that the continued existence of inconvenient historical documents must be in peril. Thankfully we have people like you preserving copies.

I would add to your analysis, that the fact that the famous Maori Battalions were singing “For God, For King, and For Country” as their own song, that is, “The Maori Battalion Song”, in the 1940-1945 war and the song was popular for some time since, seems to indicate that a significant grouping of Maori still appreciated Christianity and the British Crown the best part of a century after the Kohimarama Conference should have established this..

You cut through more than a century and a half of smoke and fudge to establish the crucial points regarding Maori land grievances. The Kohimarama Conference of Chiefs main grievance concerned the inability of Maori to negotiate creation of title with the Crown and then sell their own land direct to the end buyers, usually new immigrants. But the principle held to by the Crown was that the uplift in value of land that the Crown was capturing, was being used to build infrastructure, improve the land, and fund further immigration; without which the land would not be increasing in value in the first place.

This is actually a well-established economic principle that has guided policy makers all over the world for two centuries or more, and it is surprising that this point has been so overlooked in the largely emotional arguments about our history.

It is also an eye-opener that the Crown

erred on the side of paying multiple claimants to the same parcel of land.

Your book hews to a just and fair line, not excusing the government’s needlessly heavy handed reaction and recourse to military action. You note the tragic aspect that overwhelming majorities of Maori were sided with the Crown before the Land Wars, but were justifiably disappointed with the government’s actions at that time and later. Your point is well made, that this was a very bad testimony on the part of longer-Christianised people to recently-Christianised ones, which would have tended to dim the very fine Christian fervour that so many of the Kohimarama Conference Chiefs displayed.

Phil Hayward, Lower Hutt

Poetry

A bad press

The rat has long had a bad press. Yes, but I’d miss him too, a creature not all pest surely, that has its own purpose? Might you and I be right, if, grown in wisdom we took less fright

perhaps be even a little glad for a creature with a heart that beats as does our own?

Discarding all prejudice, should we aim to part with, dispatch, punish one who, like you and me breathes to live? Not pity a dying rat that balancing tail and soft dark fur, so fittingly fierce and brave, yet so very small an enemy?

Ah, but life itself lines up the rat against the wall, betrays the rat.

What if we spared them all?

Jenifer Foster

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Richard Prosser

eyes right

When signs appear on our streets and shop frontages in oriental characters alone, and it is almost always the case that the alien symbols of south and east Asia are involved, then it is my belief that a line has been crossed

8 HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012

Signs of the times

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bout twenty-five years ago, if memory serves correct, Portugal banned the display of street signage which had come to proliferate in its resort towns, predominantly in English, and to a lesser degree in German, and a couple of other tourist-oriented languages.

The Portuguese had become rightly indignant about their own culture and language being pushed aside in deference to the convenience of a boorish and unappreciative visiting minority.

I’m with the Portuguese on this one. I don’t blame them one little bit for wanting, even demanding, that their guests and visitors show a little respect for the prevailing norms of the society which was their host.

The same can be said about New Zealand today; and you know what, I’m saying it.

Recent comments concerning the number of signs in Chinese adorning the main streets of our largest city strike a chord with this writer. There’s neither reason nor excuse for it, and the various attempts at either, on the part of assorted apologists, liberals, the politically correct, and others weak of spirit or thinking, only serve to reinforce the fact that it shouldn’t be happening.

Your favourite commentator, as I have remarked before, has about had a gutsful of being continually required to put up with our country and its unique culture being denigrated right here in our own home, in order that some real or imagined offence taken on the part of some foreigner or another might be placated.

Now don’t get me wrong; I don’t have any real issue with signs and notices advertising

tourism businesses, or other ventures aimed primarily at visitors, bearing a translation in the furrin scribble peculiar to the target market in question, so long as that translation is modest in size and placed subservient to the primary tile, which should and must be in English – and Maori as well, as far as this writer is concerned – if it is going to have anything else plastered on it.

But when signs appear on our streets and shop frontages in oriental characters alone, and it is almost always the case that the alien symbols of south and east Asia are involved, then it is my belief that a line has been crossed.

This is New Zealand, not China or Korea. We speak English here. Tourists and migrants alike need to get that idea through their heads, and so do the acolytes of global apologism who seek to justify these insults to our culture and heritage. Generations of New Zealand soldiers did not go to fight and die in foreign wars in foreign lands to see the invaders of the future slip in unchecked through the back door. They fought to preserve the essence and character of the New Zealand nation and way of life. I do feel offended, insulted, and annoyed when I walk down a street in my own country and feel as if I have stepped into another land and another world.

Foreign-owned tourist shops, with foreign signs, and foreign staff, and where tourists can buy goods in foreign currencies and the profits all go back to some foreign country or another, are something which seriously sticks in my craw. Here in the South, where New Zealand is overwhelmingly vanilla, I

have only seen it in Queenstown; but I know that the practice proliferates in the North Island, and I struggle to understand how it manages to remain lawful.

Not all will agree, of course. There are those amongst the more rabidly vitriolic leftists of the blogosphere who regularly accuse your scribe of xenophobia and worse, who will doubtless label this commentary as being in a similar vein. It appears lost on these challenged individuals that in this democracy, people are allowed to hold views which do not concur with their own.

Disagreeing does not make people mad or bad by definition, though I have to say in my experience it is more generally those of a left-wing persuasion who are the greatest opponents of democracy, who have the most violent enmity towards other folk holding dissenting opinions to their own, and who are most steadfast in their belief that such views do not actually have a right to be held, let alone heard.

As usual I am digressing just a little. My point is that there is no reason that a person coming to a foreign land voluntarily should expect that land to be the mirror of their own, and no reason for politicians or the populace of the host nation to bend over and accommodate any lack of preparation on the part of new arrivals.

There is nothing stopping any tourist to any country from buying a phrasebook. There is, I would posit, an enormous requirement on the part of the intending immigrant, and the prospective receiving Government both, to ensure that people desiring to move their lives, businesses, and families, from one nation to another, make certain the necessities of functional language have been met before approval for any such move is given.

An “intention to study” is not good enough, in my book, other than for those genuine refugees for whom we as a civilized nation provide haven, in accordance with our obligations under various international treaties.

It is not good enough that this present Government is perfectly happy to sell New Zealand residency, including a passport, to any mainland Chinese immigrant who cares to front up with $10 million, most likely accumulated from the exploitation of slave labour in their own country, under the guise of the socalled “business migrant” scheme.

Australia is apparently now so concerned about undesirable migrants entering the Lucky Country through the wideopen back door of our special relationship, that noises are being made, at high Government level, about that relationship potentially being curtailed, unless New Zealand undertakes to do something about the number and quality of second-rate foreigners being granted easy and unjustifiable access to this country, and by extension to Australia.

Do New Zealanders really want to see an end to 170 years of automatic right of entry, work, and residence in Australia, because the sell-outs of this Government and its free-market mates are so keen to gift our nationality and the reputation it has earned this past century and a half, to any non-English speaking wanna-be migrant with a fat bank balance?

Do New Zealanders really want to see an end to 170 years of automatic right of entry, work, and residence in Australia, because the sell-outs of this Government and its freemarket mates are so keen to gift our nationality and the reputation it has earned this past century and a half, to any non-English speaking wanna-be migrant with a fat bank balance?

Acceptance of foreign language signs on our streets is another manifestation of the same malaise. Perhaps manifestation is not the right word. Perhaps “infestation” would be more appropriate.

Tell me, please, you tourists, you migrants, you free marketeers and so-called business people, and you sycophants and suck-ups and apologists for them all, what on earth makes you think you have the right to dictate to me, that I should have to put up with seeing my culture denigrated because one bunch of outlanders or another can’t be bothered, and don’t have the respect, to learn the language of my country before they come here?

Why should I, as a respectful tourist and traveler, have to accept a lesser standard of compliance in my own country than I afford to my hosts when I journey abroad?

Foreign signs on our streets and businesses are the thin end of a wedge which includes Sharia Law, female circumcision, and the abortion of baby girls, and I for one do not want a bar of any of it.

Those who are genuine about wanting to assimilate with New Zealand culture, and who want to become real citizens and unabashed New Zealanders, will have no issue with displaying – and reading – their signs in English. Genuine open minded tourists looking for the real New Zealand experience will feel the same way. The rest, I would suggest, are probably people who we don’t want here anyway.

Richard Prosser is an Investigate columnist, MP and author of Uncommon Dissent: The Evolution Of A Kiwi Nationalist

HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012 9

Mark Steyn

steynpost

How does she know she’s a Cherokee maiden? Well, she cites her grandfather’s “high cheekbones,” and says the Indian stuff is part of her family “lore”

Fauxcahontas and the melting pot

H

10 HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012

ave you dated a composite woman? They’re America’s hottest new demographic. As with all the really cool stuff, Barack Obama was doing it years before the rest of us. In Dreams from My Father, the world’s all-time most-unread bestseller, he spills the inside dope on his composite white girlfriend: “When we got back to the car she started crying. She couldn’t be black, she said.

She would if she could, but she couldn’t.

She could only be herself, and wasn’t that enough...”

But being yourself is never going to be enough in the new composite America.

Earlier this month, in an election campaign ad, Barack revealed his latest composite girlfriend – “Julia.” She’s worse than the old New York girlfriend. She can’t even be herself. In fact, she can’t be anything without massive assistance from Barack every step of the way, from his “Head Start” program at age 3 through to his Social Security benefits at the age of 67. Everything good in her life she owes to him. When she writes her memoir, it will be thanks to a subvention from the Federal Publishing Assistance Program for Chronically Dependent Women but you’ll love it: Sweet Dreams From My Sugar Daddy.

She’s what the lawyers would call “non composite mentis.” She’s not competent to do a single thing for herself – and, from Barack’s point of view, that’s exactly what he’s looking for in a woman, if only for a one-night stand on a Tuesday in early November.

Then there’s “Elizabeth,” a 62-year-old Democratic Senate candidate from Massachusetts. Like Barack’s white girlfriend, she

couldn’t be black. She would if she could, but she couldn’t. But she could be a composite – a white woman and an Indian woman, all mixed up in one! Not Indian in the sense of Ashton Kutcher putting on brownface makeup and a fake-Indian accent in his amusing new commercial for the hip lo-fat snack Popchips. But Indian in the sense of checking the “Are you Native American?” box on the Association of American Law Schools form, which Elizabeth Warren did for much of her adult life. According to her, she’s part Cherokee and part Delaware. Not in the Joe Biden sense, I hasten to add, but Delaware in the sense of the Indian tribe named in honour of the home state of Big F**kin’ Chief Dances With Plugs.

How does she know she’s a Cherokee maiden? Well, she cites her grandfather’s “high cheekbones,” and says the Indian stuff is part of her family “lore.” Which was evidently good enough for Harvard Lore School when they were looking to rack up a few affirmative-action credits. The former Obama Special Advisor to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and former Chairperson of the Congressional Oversight Panel now says that “I listed myself in the directory in the hopes that it might mean that I would be invited to a luncheon, a group, something that might happen with people who are like I am,” and certainly not for personal career advancement or anything like that. Like everyone else, she was shocked, shocked to discover that, as The Boston Herald reported, “Harvard Law School officials listed Warren as Native American in the ‘90s, when the school was

under fierce fire for their faculty’s lack of diversity.”

So did the University of Texas, and the University of Pennsylvania. With the impertinent jackanapes of the press querying the bona fides of Harvard Lore School’s first Native American female professor, the Warren campaign got to work and eventually turned up a great-great-great-grandmother designated as Cherokee in the online transcription of a marriage application of 1894.

Hallelujah! In the old racist America, we had quadroons and octoroons. But in the new post-racial America, we have – hang on, let me get out my calculator – duoettrigintaroons! Martin Luther King dreamed of a day when men would be judged not on the colour of their skin but on the content of their greatgreat-great-grandmother’s wedding license application. And now it’s here! You can read all about it in Elizabeth Warren’s memoir of her struggles to come to terms with her racial identity, Dreams From My Great-Great-Great-Grandmother.

Alas, the actual original marriage license does not list GreatGreat-Great-Gran’ma as Cherokee, but let’s cut Elizabeth Fauxcahontas Crockagawea Warren some slack here. She couldn’t be black. She would if she could, but she couldn’t. But she could be 1/32nd Cherokee, and maybe get invited to a luncheon with others of her kind – “people who are like I am,” 31/32nds white – and they can all sit around celebrating their diversity together.

She is a testament to America’s melting pot, composite pot, composting pot, whatever.

Just in case you’re having difficulty keeping up with all these Composite-Americans, George Zimmerman, the son of a Peruvian mestiza, is the embodiment of endemic white racism and the reincarnation of Bull Connor, but Elizabeth Warren, the great-great-great-granddaughter of someone who might possibly have been listed as Cherokee on an application for a marriage license, is a heartwarming testimony to how minorities are shattering the glass ceiling in Harvard Yard. George Zimmerman, redneck; Elizabeth Warren, redskin. Under the Third Reich’s Nuremberg Laws, Ms. Warren would have been classified as Aryan and Mr. Zimmerman as non-Aryan. Now it’s the other way round. Progress!

Coincidentally, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission last week issued an “Enforcement Guidance” limiting the rights of employers to take into account the criminal convictions and arrest records of job applicants because of the “disparate impact” the consideration of such matters might have on minorities. That’s great news, isn’t it? So Harvard Law School can’t ask Elizabeth Warren if she’s ever held up a liquor store because, if they did, the faculty might be even less Cherokee than it is.

My colleague Jonah Goldberg wrote the other day about Chris Mooney, author of The Republican Brain, and other scientific chaps who argue that conservatives suffer from a genetic cognitive impairment that causes us to favour small government. In other words, we’re born stupid. So, thanks to gene sequencing, we now know why conservatives aren’t as smart as, say, Pete Stark, the nigh-on-half-a-century Democrat congressman who believes that Solyndra, which is based in his district, is an automobile manufacturer: “I wish I had a big enough expense allowance to get one of those new ‘S’s’ that Solyndra’s going to make

n Cliff Owen/NEWSCOM

Elizabeth Warren will be ahead of you checking the “right-wing madman” box on the grounds that she gets her high cheekbones and minimal facial hair from Genghis Khan down there, the electric car,” he told The San Francisco Chronicle this month. “My 10-year-old is after me. He no longer wants a Porsche. He wants Dad to have an ‘S’ sedan.” Pete sounds so out of it, you have to wonder if maybe he’s 1/32nd Republican on his great-great-great-grandmother’s side.

But, if conservatives are simply born that way, shouldn’t they be covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission?

Aw, don’t waste your time. Elizabeth Warren will be ahead of you checking the “right-wing madman” box on the grounds that she gets her high cheekbones and minimal facial hair from Genghis Khan. And “Julia” will be saying she was born conservative but thanks to Obama’s new Headcase Start program was able to get ideological reassignment surgery. And Barack’s imaginary girlfriend will be telling him that she’d be left if she could, but she’s right so she can’t, but she’d love to be left. So he left her.

Good thing the smart guys are running the joint. © 2012 Mark Steyn

HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012 11

BRIDGING FINANCE ARE WE PAYING FAR TOO MUCH FOR INFRASTRUCTURE?

12 HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012

We need major investment in new roading infrastructure, but are New Zealanders being unwittingly fleeced of billions in the process? That’s the question IAN WISHART attempts to answer as he compares the cost of Auckland’s proposed new harbour crossing with similar projects overseas

Y

ou hear the numbers being batted around in the news so much that it’s easy to become immune to them: $3.9 billion, $5.6 billion, $6.7 billion. They represent various costings for either a new harbour bridge for Auckland, or a harbour tunnel.

Throw in government reports of either $2.8 billion for the Waterview tunnel first proposed for Helen Clark’s Mt Albert electorate, or $1.4 billion for a surface motorway on the same route (and eventually $1.4 billion for a tunnel again, at half the original planned length). Then add $2.4 billion for the proposed central rail tunnel, $2.5 billion for a highway between Pakuranga and Onehunga. If your eyeballs aren’t rolling around in your head by now like the lemon icons on a onearmed-bandit at Sky City, you’re probably already comatose.

It’s like Monopoly, but without the chance of picking up a Community Chest card advising “Congratulations, bank makes $15 billion error in your favour”.

With all this expenditure planned, teams of boffins and corporates are drafting proposals suggesting taxpayers and road users share the capital cost burden, with flat rate tolls as high as $8 per trip being considered for any vehicle using the motorways.

With all this money potentially being sucked out of the public’s pockets each day, you’d hope we were getting the best possible prices on our infrastructure projects, wouldn’t you?

Maybe, maybe not.

A comparison by Investigate magazine of New Zealand infrastructure costs compared with similar projects in Asia, the US, Australia and Europe raises questions about just how much fat is built into the project budgets.

To set the scene, let’s examine some of the biggest engineering marvels of the last two decades.

HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012 13

SUTONG BRIDGE, CHINA At 8.2 kilometres long, this cablestayed bridge spans China’s Yangtze River between Shanghai and Nantong, and became the largest bridge of its kind in the world. The Sutong’s two towers are 306 metres high, almost as tall as the Sky Tower. It’s a six-lane motorway, like the proposed Auckland Harbour crossing, and was built by Chinese construction companies with assistance from Western engineering firms.

The industry magazine Road Traffic Technology quotes the total cost of the bridge at US$751 million (NZ$1bn), and describes how it was financed by a combination of tolls and taxpayer contributions.

This figure is backed up by one of the German companies involved in the construction, which reported a “total cost” of the Sutong Bridge at US$726 million. The less reliable Wikipedia “estimated” a total cost of US$1.7 billion but now appears to have been well off the mark. It took five years to complete, and opened in mid 2008.

14 HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012

MILLAU VIADUCT, FRANCE At 2.4 kilometres long, the Millau Viaduct is similar in length to the proposed second Auckland crossing, but far more complex in terms of its engineering. The highway sits a whopping 270 metres above ground – nearly 900 feet – and would be like building a bridge from fifty metres above the observation deck of the Sky Tower across to the North Shore and staying at that height all the way across the harbour. Officially, the Millau is the 12th highest bridge in the world, but its towers make it the tallest, at 343 metres (the Sky Tower reaches 328 metres).

You would think all that engineering came at a huge cost – particularly if you are working on New Zealand prices – but the French brought it in for only 400 million euros (NZ$674 million) and it opened eight years ago after only three years in construction.

AKASHI BRIDGE, JAPAN A 4.4 kilometres in length, it is four times longer than the existing Auckland Harbour Bridge and is officially the longest suspension bridge in the world. It straddles the Akashi Straits, where the sea is more than a hundred metres deep. By comparison, the Waitemata Harbour is less than 16 metres deep in most places. Additionally, the Akashi Bridge is in Japan’s ‘Typhoon Alley’ where wind speeds can reach 290 km/h, and it is seismically active. To combat these engineering challenges, massive concrete towers were driven deep into the sea floor, and there’s enough steel cable in this one bridge alone (300,000 kilometres of it) to stretch nearly all the way to the moon (343,000 km at its closest point), or put another way it could encircle the earth seven times.

Like the proposed Auckland crossing, this bridge is a six-lane motorway. At the time of its completion in 1998 it cost around NZ$5 billion. It is nearly twice as long as the proposed Auckland crossing and far more challenging from an engineering perspective, required to withstand magnitude 8.5 earthquakes, 300 km/h hurricanes and monster tidal flows that rise and fall at a flow speed of nearly five metres per second.

HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012 15

ORESUND BRIDGE, SWEDEN At more than 16 kilometres in length, this combined bridge and harbour tunnel route is visible from far above the earth. It links the Swedish city of Malmo with Denmark across the Baltic Sea. It carries two railway tracks and four lanes of traffic, and begins with an eight kilometre bridge from Sweden out into the Baltic, before dipping under the sea at the official marine border between both countries as a tunnel for the remainder of the journey. The total cost of the project, built in just four years, was NZ$8 billion for the 16 km of bridge and undersea tunnel combined. A toll of NZ$67 per car trip finances the project. It is strong enough to withstand Baltic winter storms and ice buildup, and it allows trains to travel at speeds of up to 200 km/h.

YEONGJONG BRIDGE, SOUTH KOREA Another Asian monster, at 4.4 kilometres long, built by Samsung. This one is a double decker, carrying six lanes of traffic upstairs, and a further four lanes of traffic downstairs alongside a double-track railroad. The bridge is not only designed to withstand hurricane force winds, but earthquakes and a daily tidal rise and fall of nine metres. It’s much longer than the 2.6 km Auckland Harbour Bridge option, and with ten vehicle and two train lanes also significantly larger than the six lanes of traffic proposed for Auckland. While the Auckland bridge has been costed at NZ$3.9 billion ($1.5 bn per km), however, this Korean giant came in at NZ$1.8 billion, or $413 million a kilometre – less than a third of the cost but delivering double the capacity, including rail.

16 HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012

LOETSCHBERG RAIL TUNNEL, SWITZERLAND In a country ringed by granite, you’d expect the gnomes of Zurich to be good at tunnelling and they are. This 33 km railway tunnel opened in 2007 and is officially the world’s longest land tunnel, and allows high speed passenger trains to fly through the ground beneath the glacier-covered mountains at Ferrari-like average speeds of 240 km/h. It’s a single rail line, meaning trains have to be staggered for inbound and outbound use of the tunnel, but nonetheless it’s an impressive feat to punch a 33 km hole through solid rock and still have change from NZ$5 billion. Auckland’s proposed harbour tunnel, only 2.8km, is budgeted at $5.6 billion.

DUBLIN SEA PORT TUNNEL, IRELAND In a bid to cut a bottleneck route into Ireland’s main port, the Dublin authorities constructed a 5.6km four lane road, including “1.9 km of twin cut and cover tunnels, 2.6km of twin bored tunnels and 1.1 km of surface road along with associated interchanges and infrastructure,” reported Road Traffic Technology. In other words, it’s quite a bit like the Auckland project although with two fewer lanes and twice as long. The construction cost NZ$1.2 billion for all of the above, and it opened in 2007 at the height of the Irish economic boom. A toll of between NZ$5 and NZ$20 is levied on all private cars and light vehicles using the tunnel (depending on the time of day). Trucks, ironically, are allowed to use the tunnels toll-free.

The relatively cheap construction price (when compared to the smaller Auckland harbour tunnel proposal) included the purchase of not one but two TBMs, or tunnel-boring machines. The largest machine, nicknamed “Grainne”, was 156m long and weighed 1,600 tonnes. It chewed through solid rock at the rate of 10 metres a day and spat out 500,000 cubic metres of stone in its wake. The second machine, nicknamed “Meghan”, was smaller and given the task of boring through boulder-ridden clay deposits, managing to dig out 71,000 cubic metres of earth.

HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012 17

I-710 FREEWAY, LOS ANGELES Not yet constructed, this project has been costed at less than NZ$240 million for every kilometre of triplebore motorway tunnel, giving a total project cost of NZ$658 million for a 2.8 km stretch equivalent to the Auckland harbour tunnel requirement.

AIRPORT LINK, BRISBANE At 15 kilometres long, this combined motorway, busway and tunnel system also includes 25 new bridges. Nearly six kilometres of the route is through twin underground tunnels. All up, for the entire package, the bill is around NZ$400 million per kilometre, or $6 billion for the whole thing. Due to open this coming month, the project as a public private partnership turned into something of a disaster under former Queensland Labor premier Anna Bligh. Small mum and dad investors who’d been encouraged to underwrite the project took a bath when the value of stocks slipped to only 0.1c per share, the lowest price possible on the ASX short of being declared officially dead. Media reports focussed on the massive consultancy fees being charged to the project by companies involved in the construction consortium BrisConnections, and it was quickly shortened to “BrisCon” by a sceptical media. Even so, on a per kilometre basis the Brisbane Airport Link project is far cheaper than many of the transport projects mooted for Auckland.

GOTTHARD BASE TUNNEL, SWITZERLAND Another massive rail tunnel system, this time totalling a whopping 57 kilometres beneath the Swiss Alps.

It’s a twin-bore system allowing for high speed rail traffic both ways, and it cost less than NZ$13 billion, or only NZ$222 million per kilometre of twin bore tunnelling which, again, would equate to only NZ$621 million for the 2.8 km of tunnel needed to cross Auckland Harbour, not $5.6 billion.

This Swiss project also involved multiple TBM boring machines.

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I-45 PARKWAY TUNNEL SYSTEM, HOUSTON, TEXAS They’re still arguing about the proposed 50km long i-45 in Houston and it is still on the drawing board, but its costs are a lot cheaper than Auckland. The plan is for two large tunnels, each capable of carrying six lanes of traffic using a double decker configuration, and with provision for rail as well. Houston authorities have costed one of the six lane tunnels at US$160 million per mile, equating to NZ$130 million a kilometre. This would equate to NZ$363 million for the 2.8 km harbour tunnel.

SMART TUNNEL, KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA This ten kilometre long tunnel is the longest multipurpose tunnel in the world. Multipurpose because apart from providing underground roading, it also serves as a massive stormwater drain during flash floods. The tunnel is designed so that watertight gates can shut the tunnel to traffic and allow stormwater to fill it up and drain away.

Four kilometres of the ten includes roading for cars and light commercial vehicles. It took only four years to build using two TBMs, and cost only NZ$700 million for the whole thing.

With all the fuss around “buy New Zealand made”, particularly in a recession, you can see why the Government appears to be relying on trusted and proven NZ construction companies for much of our roading infrastructure, including the proposed harbour crossing.

However, given the prices these projects are being built for overseas, it begs the question whether relying on local firms for specialised infrastructure in New Zealand isn’t simply a form of expensive corporate social welfare. The construction companies have been big donors to political parties, and with multi-billion dollar contracts in the offing for what now appear to be relatively small and simple construction projects, you can understand why they might be feeling generous. It’s taxpayers and road users, however, who will be ultimately footing the bill.

The Waterview tunnel, for example, has just commenced construction in Auckland and will link up State Highway 16 to the airport bound State Highway 20 with the use of a motorway and 2.5 km long tunnel beneath Waterview. The budget for that tunnel is NZ$1.4 billion, or $560 million per kilometre to construct. That’s an awful lot more expensive than the $130 million a kilometre they are budgeting for in Houston, or the $222 million per kilometre the Swiss are paying to punch a twin bore tunnel through the bedrock of the Swiss Alps.

Why so expensive down under?

One Australian commentator claims

his country suffers the same mysterious problem: “It is in the interests of the powerful Melbourne road lobby to make public transport projects appear more expensive than they are,” argues Public Transport Users Association spokesman Tony Morton in a web missive entitled “Common Urban Myths About Transport”.

“Private operators and suppliers also find it in their interest to inflate project costs, as it boosts their prestige to preside over a big-ticket project, and perhaps because of the old rule that the more money there is floating around, the more likely it is to wind up in one’s own pocket!”

In Washington State in the US, the government ordered a comparative study in 2002 of highway construction costs across the US, with a view to getting a much better feel for genuine road construction costs. It examined the project cost of building a mile long, four lane freeway interchange, in 27 states across America. The figures are an education.1 In 2002 dollars, the final project cost for a mile (1.6km) of four lane freeway built from scratch in the US was an average of US$9 million, or US$5.6 million per kilometre. Some states could do it for less, some for more, but that’s the average four-lane motorway construction price in the US for 2002.

In Arkansas, the state government issued a costs guideline for road design engineers in 2009 for freeway construction showing that a six lane freeway in urban areas should cost US$8 million

per kilometre (roughly NZ$10.3m), while a four lane freeway through rural areas/ mountains should cost slightly less. 2 In the Canadian province of Ontario, two new four-lane highways were punched through at an average cost in 2011 dollars of NZ$12 million per kilometre.

Back here in New Zealand however, the proposed Puhoi to Wellsford four lane extension will cost taxpayers and/or road users a seemingly stunning NZ$45 million per kilometre. At 38 kilometres, the motorway extension is budgeted in today’s money at $1.7 billion, whereas in the US that same freeway would arguably cost less than NZ$400 million.

This is not to say that outliers don’t exist. Everywhere you look around the world you can find a project that seriously blew its budget and cost far more to build than the average. Nonetheless, New Zealand’s figures seem routinely high rather than occasional.

One New Zealand construction consultant – preferring to stay anonymous because of his position - told Investigate the price differentials between New Zealand and overseas were stunning.

“I can’t think of a good reason why another Auckland Harbour Bridge should cost $3.9 billion, if a similar size bridge overseas can be built for $200 to $400 million.

“Sure, you might have to bring in some of the big structural segments in from overseas if you couldn’t make them here, and the overseas experts are expensive, but at most that might add 50% to the cost of a job.

“Our sub-contractors and workers are paid stuff-all, so our labour costs are internationally competitive.

“The only thing that could be a factor is New Zealand’s seismic requirements.”

We considered that aspect, but in the highly seismic Japanese landscape, the massive Akashi Bridge has been built to withstand an 8.5 magnitude earthquake – far bigger than anything likely to hit Auckland. In fact, while the Akashi megalith was being assembled, it was rumbled by the massive Kobe earthquake of 1995 that killed six thousand people and shifted the bridge towers so much that the bridge had to be lengthened.

Likewise, the giant Yeongjong Bridge

HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012 19

that Samsung built in Korea is made to withstand tough natural forces as well, and came in for a fraction of the proposed Auckland crossing price, so it’s hard to see how New Zealand’s geotechnical problems are so unique that they justify exponentially higher project fees.

Not that you are likely to see a second harbour bridge. The preferred option for NZTA is to keep the existing harbour bridge as the only surface structure, and drill a tunnel instead. Two harbour

20 HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012

bridges side by side would look naff, they told journalists. They did consider building a new six lane bridge for $3.9 billion and then demolishing the old one, but there would be no net capacity gain and the cost of demolishing the old bridge would have to be added on.

However, if the budgets were re-examined in light of what the Asians in particular have been able to build, you could probably have a spectacular new 12 lane harbour bridge with trains, and demolish

the old bridge, and probably still come away with more than a billion dollars in loose change.

Planning is still at an early stage, no design drawings have been released, and even the preferred options are still up for discussion, which means costs are indicative, not set in concrete and tied to a specific design. There’s still a chance then, that some tough questions from the community could have an impact on this debate, and other major infrastructure projects elsewhere in New Zealand.

Discrepancies in the project costs may also be the product of a process that works back from the benefits. To get a road infrastructure project approved in New Zealand, a benefits-to-costs ratio greater than 4 has to be shown. In other words, if you are pitching billions of dollars in benefits, project costs can be up to one quarter of those. A study by Waikato University’s Arthur Grimes and Yun Liang in 2008 estimated the $366 million spent extending the Auckland Northern Motorway from Tristram Avenue right up to Silverdale over a period of years had

generated more than $2.3 billion in economic benefits to the country, thus more than justifying the expenditure.

The problem, as it appears to Investigate, is that massive fees are being built into infrastructure projects that taxpayers then become liable for through government borrowing, or which motorists will be pinged for in tolls every day for thirty years, driving up the cost of living.

The companies given the right to operate these new roads and structures stand to make a fortune, while the contractors who build them will also be paid handsomely in comparison to their overseas counterparts.

This apparent major discrepancy in roading infrastructure project costs has apparently gone relatively unnoticed in New Zealand, and that could be for

manager for Auckland and Northland, Tommy Parker, told Investigate.

“This is a usual procedure undertaken by the NZTA for its large transport projects, and certainly for one on the scale of an additional crossing of the harbour.

“The costs for a tunnel and a bridge are based on conceptual designs for a crossing and are indicative. They were one part of a series of studies investigating an additional harbour crossing. The studies are part of the first stage of a detailed and extensive process for a complex project. They are published on the AWHC website.

“There is a strong preference from Auckland Council for a tunnel. It will publish its Auckland Plan shortly and its preference for the tunnel reflects the community feedback it received on this.

will be NZ workers skilled in tunnelling.

“Other factors that will impact on the prices include the final design of a tunnel.

Talk to date is of four single bored tunnels – two each for road and rail – but other options could include “double-decker” tunnels carrying traffic on two levels.

“The tender process to select a consortium to construct the additional crossing will also influence the final price.

“Construction of an additional harbour crossing is several years away, but planning and design work does have to start now on such a complex project – that is why the first indicative costs, and other economic and technical data, have been collated and published by the NZTA. Further work in these areas is underway.

“The next immediate next step in this long-term project is to protect the route

The companies given the right to operate these new roads and structures stand to make a fortune, while the contractors who built them have also been paid handsomely in comparison to their overseas counterparts a number of reasons. Environmental groups who don’t like road construction are not likely to query the published high costs of highway construction, because it weakens the argument for public transport if road building turns out to be much cheaper. In fact, many environmental websites happily quote the highest per kilometre costs for roadbuilding that they can lay their hands on, for precisely that reason. Nor are governments and contractors likely to blow the whistle on what appears to be a mutually-beneficial working relationship.

It may be, as we have said earlier, that there are genuine justifications for why infrastructure costs in New Zealand are much higher than they are overseas. The NZ Transport Agency says there might be such justifications.

“The AWHC (additional Waitemata Harbour crossing) cost estimates were prepared in accordance with the NZTA cost estimation manual and based on the conceptual design developed to date. As part of this process the estimates were independently peer reviewed,” NZTA’s state highways

“It is difficult to compare like for like with tunnelling projects in NZ (few tunnels are constructed here) and overseas, particularly when it comes to economy of scale.

“The NZ Transport Agency will get a much more accurate picture of costs to tunnel under the Waitemata Harbour from the Waterview roading project underway in west Auckland. The NZTA is constructing 5km of motorway – 3 lanes in each direction – and half of it will be underground at a depth of up to 40 metres. The Tunnel Boring Machine for this project is currently being built in Germany.

“Waterview’s total cost is $1.4b – NZ’s largest-ever roading project. The cost includes the two tunnels. This reflects the way tunnelling technology is changing rapidly overseas, and the impact those changes can have on prices.

“When the time comes to start construction of the additional harbour crossing the NZTA will be in a strong position to get best value for dollar. It will have the benefit of learning from Waterview and boring tunnels in Auckland conditions, and there

across the Waitemata Harbour. The NZ Transport Agency’s predecessor, Transit NZ, lodged Notices of Requirements with the old Auckland and North Shore City Councils to protect the route in 2009.

Auckland Council now has responsibility for the legal and planning process around consents for the Notices of Requirement,” NZTA’s Parker said.

It sounds promising, but you’d think the peer-reviewers on costings would have been aware of the prices of similar projects overseas, because price estimations have a huge bearing on public input and comment on different proposals. If the cost estimates are way off the mark, the entire debate can be wrongly skewed. Taxpayers and road users are, then, entitled to ask the question: are we getting bang for buck?

Only time and further heavy scrutiny may provide the answer.

References 1. http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/biz/ construction/pdf/I-C_Const_Cost.pdf 2. http://www.arkansashighways.com/ roadway_design_division/Cost_per_Mile_ JULY_2009.pdf

HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012 21

FUKUSHIMA’S Are the public DEADLY being kept in SECRET the dark?

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WORDS BY IAN WISHART

I

f you’ve been anywhere near the internet in recent weeks, a viral email on the Fukushima nuclear disaster may have crossed your path: “I’m interrupting our normal email schedule to bring you an urgent alert that makes everything else seem insignificant by comparison. The issues of GMOs, fluoride, food freedom and vaccines won’t matter at all if we don’t solve this far bigger issue that threatens human civilization: Fukushima reactor No. 4.

“Right now, the reactor’s spent fuel pool is just one earthquake away from a structural failure that could set off a chain of events leading to the release of anywhere from 10 times to 85 times the Cesium-137 released in the Chernobyl disaster.

“Such circumstances caused one of Japan’s former ambassadors to make the following extraordinary statement: “ ‘It is no exaggeration to say that the fate of Japan and the whole world depends on No. 4 reactor.’ - Mitsuhei Murata, Former Japanese Ambassador to Switzerland and Senegal, Executive Director, the Japan Society for Global System and Ethics.

“A failure of the reactor -- and the subsequent catastrophic release of Cesium-137 -- would decimate human life across North America, killing off crops, polluting groundwater, causing widespread infant stillbirths and unleashing an explosion in cancer rates. North America could become uninhabitable by humans for centuries.

“Cesium-137 has a half-life of 30 years, meaning that if North America is blanketed with a layer of radioactive dust in 2012, that radioactivity will still be half

HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012 23

The cesium-137, the radioactive component contained in these assemblies, present at the site is 85 times larger than the amount released during the Chernobyl accident as strong in the year 2042. It will drop by half again by the year 2072. By the year 2102, it might be low enough to where humans could start to re-colonize the continent, but even then, rates of cancer and birth defects would likely be off the charts.

“Yet, as we speak, the mainstream media is running a total media blackout on this story. Governments are pretending there is no problem, and the corporations that built these nuclear facilities (like GE) are quietly running disinfo campaigns to convince everybody there is no problem.”

The words in bold were added by the emailer for effect, but if the substance of the email is true, little emphasis is actually needed.

Numerous Investigate readers have asked the magazine to look into the issue, and we have: the threat appears to be real, but there are differing views on the severity of the threat.

Canada’s state-owed CTV published a story late May, warning “the worst nuclear storm the world has ever seen could be just one earthquake away from

24 HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012

reality. The troubled Reactor 4 at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant is at the centre of this potential catastrophe.”

The Canadian TV report is anchored on comments from US-based nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen, who has visited Fukushima and argues that 1,535 spent fuel rods in Reactor 4 are in danger of being exposed to air and catching fire. The nuclear heat would set off, he says, a chain reaction causing what CTV described as “a massive oxygen-eating radiological fire that could not be extinguished with water.”

As Gundersen describes it, “The health consequences of that are beyond where science has ever gone before.”

Environmentalists have been quick to seize on warnings that Fukushima may be on the verge of becoming a global disaster.

“The highly radioactive spent fuel assemblies [at Fukushima] … present a clear threat to the people of Japan and the world,” wrote diplomat Akio Matsumura on May 11.

“Reactor 4 and the nearby common spent fuel pool contain over 11,000 highly

radioactive spent fuel assemblies, many of which are exposed to the open air. The cesium-137, the radioactive component contained in these assemblies, present at the site is 85 times larger than the amount released during the Chernobyl accident.

Another magnitude 7.0 earthquake would jar them from their pool or stop the cooling water, which would lead to a nuclear fire and meltdown. The nuclear disaster that would result is beyond anything science has ever seen. Calling it a global catastrophe is no exaggeration.”

Matsumura points out that Japanese seismologists are currently predicting a 90% probability of a magnitude 7 or higher earthquake in the Fukushima region within the next three years, as part of the aftershock pattern from the magnitude 9 that caused the tsunami. With a massive crack already, the building housing Reactor 4 is considered unlikely to survive another decent rumble.

After the tsunami the Japanese Government played down the risks of nuclear catastrophe and has continued to do so.

A “roadmap” for cleaning the stricken site issued in December last year by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) provides for a carefully stage-managed ten year operation to remove the fuel rods. Order and routine may appeal to the Tokyo boffins, but United States senator Ron Wyden, who led a fact finding mission to Fukushima, argues they simply don’t have the luxury of ten years.

“Given the compromised nature of these structures due to the events of March 11, their schedule carries extraordinary and continuing risk if further severe seismic events were to occur.”

The United States has good reason to worry. Wind and sea currents put the US directly in the line of nuclear fire if Fukushima goes up. Flotsam from the tsunami is already washing up in the US, and prevailing northern hemisphere windflows would put radioactive fallout across the US within days to weeks of a meltdown.

Those same prevailing winds would cross the Atlantic to Britain and Europe.

A

kio Matsumura says Japan simply isn’t taking the threat, and its international obligations, seriously enough. Leaving the cleanup to the privately owned power companies, he says, is unfair and foolish in the extreme: “Has the government of Japan and other world leaders considered the facts above that would lead to a global catastrophe, and do they have a clear strategy to prevent this worst case scenario? Are there any means to shorten the period for the completion of removal spent fuel from all of the pools, in particular of Reactor 4, within two years or so? Are we

able to trust such extraordinary tasks to TEPCO and the private sector?

“I believe that the government of Japan should lead the way and embrace all means at its disposal in order to prevent a disaster that would affect our dozens of generations of our descendants. In this context, I cannot help but consider the role of the military in addition to the international technical support team.

They possess the technological and logistical capacity that a company such as TEPCO does not.

“Deploying the Japanese self defense force (military) inside the country’s borders would be an incredibly controversial political decision, but the political fallout for the government from this step would pale in comparison to having such an immense global catastrophe occur on its watch.”

Part of the problem is logistical.

TEPCO knows what it has to do – move the spent fuel rods to safe containment – but the crane capable of lifting the 100 tonne fuel rod assembly was destroyed in the tsunami and a new one has to be built on site. Problem? Radiation exposure to workers who, the closer they get to the reactor buildings, can only work between a matter of seconds to a matter of minutes. Hence the long time frame.

Nature, however, is no respecter of schedules. A ten year programme to secure the Fukushima reactors is a long time for TEPCO engineers to be hanging their posteriors in the wind, tempting fate.

There are further reasons to feel concerned, however.

GreenPlanetFM host Tim Lynch wrote this on April 26: “Peter Daley from Caloundra in Queensland, is the researcher who blew the whistle on the radiation cloud over Australia that then carried on over to the South Island of NZ, passing over Dunedin.

“Back on the 8th of January of this year Peter had programmed his new high tech Geiger counter to sound an alarm if radiation far above background radiation was measured.

“The alarm went off at 6.30 pm measuring 0.80 microsieverts, which was eight times over the average level of radiation in the atmosphere and enough for him to stay indoors and close all the windows then call his friends to do the same.

“Following this another person in Byron Bay in Northern New South Wales measured this same spike as well as another in Melbourne Victoria.

“Then across the Tasman Sea to NZ,

HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012 25

another researcher in Dunedin who was involved in nuclear sciences went out with a cloth and wiped all the rain drops off his car that was outside, he then put his geiger counter against the cloth to have it instantly burst forth with a sharp staccato reading. Visual observation saw peaks reach an incredible 1.89 uS/Hr! “So, what is going on here?

“From many accounts the inevitable is happening. The nuclear radiation from the crippled Japanese, Fukushima power plant in the Northern Hemisphere has breached the equatorial belt and seeped into the Southern Hemisphere and now this contamination is gradually raining down on us from within the upper atmosphere.”

T

he reason for the hemispheral breach appears to have been the La Nina climate system, which sucked radioactive vapour across the equator.

The existence of a radioactive cloud was confirmed by the Australian government in January, but there were assurances the level of radioactivity recorded was unlikely to pose any health threat to humans. As Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency

26 HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012

senior environmental scientist Marcus Grezechnik told Queensland’s Sunshine Coast Daily: “It is not seen as a big increase although it is higher than average. To put everyone’s mind at ease, even if you were receiving that dose every hour for a full year you would have less dose than one CAT Scan.”

Grezechnik told journalists that radioactive fallout from Fukushima had been recorded only “once” over Australia, which is slightly at odds with the official New Zealand position that radiation cannot reach us: “Any nuclear power plant accident in the Northern hemisphere (including Japan) will not result in the deposition of radioactive material in New Zealand because of global atmospheric circulation patterns,” the ESR’s senior medical physicist Tony Cotterill told Investigate.

“In the lower atmospheric zone called the troposphere, where any radioactive material would be carried to from a nuclear power plant accident, except at the equator there is little mixing of air masses between the Northern and Southern hemispheres. This can be contrasted with past above ground nuclear weapons testing where the force of the explo-

sions forced radioactive material into the higher atmospheric zone called the stratosphere where there is much greater mixing of the two air masses.

“The Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) has access to the internationally collected data from air monitoring stations of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO) two of which are in New Zealand, but there are many others around the world designed to track long range releases of radioactive material. Monitoring data from these have confirmed that no air borne radioactive material released during the Japanese nuclear emergency has reached New Zealand.”

While Australia has admitted there was a radioactive cloud over Queensland of some kind, New Zealand’s ESR is adamant the Dunedin readings are wrong and it never came here: “There is no credible evidence to suggest a cloud of airborne radioactive material has passed over New Zealand as a result of the Fukushima accident.

There is little or no chance of any released radioactive material from the Fukushima accident reaching as far south as New Zealand,” says Cotterill.

New Zealand Department of Conservation researchers have been checking migrating bird colonies – like sooty shearwaters – to see if they’ve become radioactive from flying through Japanese waters.

To date, no traces of radioactive birds have been found, but the numbers of shearwaters who’ve returned to New Zealand is down around 30% and those who have arrived back are in bad condition.

N

ew Zealand authorities have, like their Japanese counterparts, tended to play down any safety risks from Fukushima. They may be correct that radiation leakage so far has been minor. But that doesn’t mean people can breathe a sigh of relief and move on. A full nuclear fire at the Fukushima reactor would be something the world has never seen, and likely to spew huge amounts of Caesium-137 and Strontium into the atmosphere.

“The no. 4 [coolant] pool is about 100 feet above the ground, is structurally damaged and is exposed to the open elements,” Robert Alvarez, a former senior adviser at the US Department of Energy, told Akio Matsumura in an email. “If an earthquake or other event were to cause this pool to drain this could result in a catastrophic radiological fire involving nearly ten times the amount of Caesium-137 released by the Chernobyl accident.”

And that’s just from one reactor pool. If the fire spread to other nearby reactors in the plant, it’s not hard to extrapolate the figures.

“It is no exaggeration to say that the fate of Japan and the whole world depends on No. 4 Reactor,” another former Japanese diplomat, Mitsuhei Murata, wrote in an April letter to UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon.

The problem appears to be one of perception, and it’s political. The people making the noise on the issue are environmentalists and global governance adherents, whose other hats include encouraging greater UN control over national issues. The spectre of an out-ofcontrol nuclear fire raging that “could make North America uninhabitable for decades” is exactly the kind of headline those lobby groups want. Yet in this case, they do appear to have a point. These same people who brought you the new Ice Age in the 70s, a nuclear winter in the

For all of the cosmetic work going on at Fukushima, the reality is a radioactive nightmare and severely damaged containment facility that is, as everyone knows, vulnerable to further geological stress 80s, acid rain in the nineties and global warming in the noughties, may have repeatedly cried wolf, but perhaps this time with good reason.

After all, it’s not as if a half-exploded nuclear reactor leaking radiation can in any sense be described as a routine work environment or “totally under control”.

For all of the cosmetic work going on at Fukushima, the reality is a radioactive nightmare and severely damaged containment facility that is, as everyone knows, vulnerable to further geological stress.

The NZ National Radiation Laboratory, part of ESR, seems content with the Japanese plan: “The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is reporting that the situation at Fukushima while it remains serious continues to improve,” says ESR’s Cotterill.

“There are concerns that reactor four’s

spent fuel storage pool could be further damaged in a major aftershock. However, the IAEA is reporting that the plant’s operator are [making] progress [in] their roadmap to recovery which includes strengthening reactor four’s spent fuel pool, and a plan to remove the fuel from the pond.”

If it does go bang, the solution for New Zealand households might be to invest in a household Geiger counter, ensure you use iodised table salt for all your cooking, and keep an eye out for signs that any of your kids glow in the dark.

Or, as nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen put it, “We are all in a situation of having to pray there’s not an earthquake. And there’s the other half of that, which is pray to God but row towards shore. And Tokyo’s not really rowing toward shore right now,” Gundersen told Canada’s CTV this month.

HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012 27

How TOXIC Is Your TV?

The con surrounding flame retardant chemicals

We’ve all purchased furniture or appliances advertised as fireretardant, assuming we’re doing the right thing. But extensive research has shown the chemicals are toxic, and worse, they don’t appear to work at slowing down fires. The Chicago Tribune’s SAM ROE & PATRICIA CALLAHAN broke the story

T

wenty-five years ago, scientists gathered in a cramped government laboratory and set fire to specially designed chairs, TVs and electrical cables packed with flame retardants. For the next half-hour, they carefully measured how much the chemicals slowed the blaze.

It was one of the largest studies of its kind, and the chemical industry seized upon it, claiming the results showed that flame retardants gave people a 15-fold increase in time to escape fires.

Manufacturers of flame retardants would repeatedly point to this government study as key proof that these toxic chemicals – embedded in many common household items – prevented residential fires and saved lives.

But the study’s lead author, Vytenis Babrauskas, told the Chicago Tribune that industry officials have “grossly distorted” the findings of his research, which was not based on real-world conditions. The small amounts of flame retardants in typical home furnishings, he said, offer little to no fire protection.

“Industry has used this study in ways that are improper and untruthful,” he said.

The misuse of Babrauskas’ work is but one example of how the chemical industry has manipulated scientific findings to promote the widespread use of flame retardants and downplay the health risks, a Tribune investigation shows. The industry has twisted research results, ignored findings that run counter to their aims and passed off biased, industry-funded reports as rigorous science.

As a result, the chemical industry successfully distorted the basic knowledge about toxic chemicals that are used in consumer products and linked to serious health problems, including cancer, developmental problems, neurological deficits and impaired fertility.

Industry has disseminated misleading research findings so frequently that they essentially have been adopted as fact. They have been cited by consultants, think tanks, regulators and Wikipedia, and have shaped the worldwide debate about the safety of flame retardants.

28 HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012

HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012 29

One series of studies financed by the chemical industry concluded that flame retardants prevent deadly fires, reduce pollutants and save society millions of dollars.

The main basis for these broad claims?

A scientific report so obscure that it is available only in Swedish.

When the Tribune obtained a copy and translated it, the report revealed that many of industry’s wide-ranging claims can be traced to information regarding just eight TV fires in western Stockholm more than 15 years ago.

A

lthough industries often try to spin scientific findings on the safety and effectiveness of their products, the tactics employed by flame retardant manufacturers stand out.

Tom Muir, a Canadian government research analyst for 30 years, called the broad claims based on the eight Stockholm TV fires “the worst example I have ever seen of deliberate misinformation and distortion.”

The American Chemistry Council, the leading trade group for the industry, said flame retardants are safe products that help protect life and property. “ACC’s work is grounded in scientific evidence, as we believe regulatory decisions related to chemistry must be evaluated on a scientific basis,” the trade group said in a written statement.

But when the Tribune asked the trade group to provide research that showed flame retardants are effective, the council initially provided only one study – the one Babrauskas wrote and now says is being distorted by industry.

Later, in response to additional questions from the newspaper, the trade group highlighted a different study as evidence that flame retardants work well: research based largely on the obscure Swedish report.

In reviewing key scientific studies and analyses behind the chemical industry’s most common arguments, the Tribune identified flaws so basic that they violate central tenets of science.

When Babrauskas and his team of scientists began their pioneering research in 1987, it was well-established that flame retardants slowed fires – at least when massive amounts were packed into products.

30 HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012

Less clear was what that meant in terms of precise gains in fire safety. Seeking answers, the chemical industry commissioned Babrauskas’ team at the National Bureau of Standards to conduct one of the first large-scale studies on the effectiveness of flame retardants.

The industry, Babrauskas said, wanted to know what would happen if the most potent and expensive chemicals were embedded in common items, such as TV cabinets and upholstered chairs. The industry picked out the flame retardants to be used, and Babrauskas’ team began custombuilding the household items to be tested.

Working out of a yellow-brick laboratory with a large chimney, the researchers set fire to each item and then, in what Babrauskas called the “grand finale,” ignited a room full of samples containing large amounts of retardants and a room of items containing none. Among the conclusions: The room of flame retardant samples would provide people 15 times more escape time than the other room.

The results weren’t surprising. More noteworthy was the way industry characterized the results.

Industry trade groups have regularly asserted that household products, such as

TVs, offered a 15-fold escape time if they contained flame retardants. “This should allow sufficient time for the fire brigade to reach your place before it is too late,” states the website of the Bromine Science and Environmental Forum, an industry group based in Brussels.

Babrauskas calls such claims “totally bogus” because the amounts of flame retardants in the burned samples in his tests were so much greater than what is found in typical consumer items.

“Where you would see them is in the aviation industry, NASA, naval facilities – the market where there is no sensitivity to dollar costs,” he said.

In fact, as Babrauskas explicitly noted in his study, research shows that the flame retardants in household furnishings such as sofas and chairs do not slow fire.

For example, many couches, love seats and chairs sold nationwide contain flame retardants to comply with a California rule on flammability of home furnishings. But studies by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission have concluded that this standard provides no meaningful protection from deadly fires.

The standard requires that raw foam withstand a candle-like flame for 12 seconds. But, Babrauskas said, upholstered furniture is covered with fabric, and if the cover ignites, the flames from the fabric quickly grow larger than that of a candle and overwhelm even flameretardant foam.

“The fire just laughs at it,” Babrauskas said.

The bottom line: Household furniture often contains enough chemicals to pose health threats but not enough to stem fires – “the worst of both possible worlds,” according to Babrauskas.

Babrauskas, who spent 16 years as a fire scientist at the National Bureau of Standards, now known as the National Institute of Standards and Technology, said he didn’t know the chemical industry was misrepresenting his study until two years ago when a scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California contacted him. Babrauskas addressed the distortion in a paper he presented last year at an international conference. But the industry continues to misquote his work.

In its written statement, the chemistry

council said the group has not mischaracterized Babrauskas’ study, saying the group has stated the research shows flame retardants “can provide” a 15-fold escape time.

Babrauskas, now a consultant, said industry is being “flat-out deceptive” and should stop misrepresenting his work in order to sell more flame retardants.

“I don’t want to be part of anything that willfully and needlessly poisons the planet,” he said.

The study written in Swedish is so obscure you won’t find it online or among the millions of papers listed in government and industry databases. American Chemistry Council says it doesn’t have a copy. Even the chemicals’ most vocal critics say they have never seen one.

Yet the paper about electrical fires in Sweden has had significant influence, thanks to the chemical industry’s manipulation of its findings.

The Tribune obtained a copy of the study from the only library in the world

Leading the search were three people with close industry ties: an executive with flame retardant maker Albemarle Corp.; a public relations specialist with a unit of Burson-Marsteller, a global PR firm; and Margaret Simonson, a fire scientist at a leading research institute in Sweden.

The trio was collecting statistics on electrical fires when some data in the Swedish study caught their eye: Western Stockholm, with 265,000 residents, experienced 32 electrical fires in a twoyear span. Of those 32 fires, eight – or 25 percent – were caused by TVs. A basic principle of science is that broad conclusions should not be based on small or unrepresentative samples.

Flip a coin five times and it might land on heads each time. But you couldn’t then conclude that 500 coin flips would always come up heads.

Yet the three industry researchers used the 25 percent figure to estimate that Europe as a whole – a region of roughly

Household furniture often contains enough chemicals to pose health threats but not enough to stem fires – “the worst of both possible worlds” believed to have one, the National Library of Sweden, and had it translated. The 50-page report, written by a Swedish federal board, estimated the total number of electrical fires in Sweden by analyzing the causes of all fires in and around western Stockholm in 1995 and 1996.

The report’s main conclusion – that electrical fires in Sweden were less common than previously thought – was relatively insignificant. But a chemical industry team zeroed in on a tiny portion of the report and used it to manufacture several flimsy arguments for why flame retardants are good for society.

At the time the Swedish report was published, in 1997, environmentalists in Europe were raising concerns about flame retardants in TVs and other electronics.

The chemical industry began searching for evidence that the benefits of flame retardants in those products outweighed any risks.

500 million people – had experienced 165 TV fires per million sets annually.

That rate, the researchers wrote, was far higher than the U.S. rate, which they put at five TV fires per million sets. And because the outer plastic casings of U.S. televisions typically contained flame retardants, while European sets did not, the researchers concluded that the “dramatic difference” in TV fire rates was due to the chemicals.

When the researchers published their figures in 2000 in a peer-reviewed journal, one of the authors listed was the PR specialist.

Simonson, the fire scientist, went on to write several additional papers – all funded by the flame retardant industry – that also relied on the eight fires as support for her broad conclusions.

For example, in a 2002 study that looked at the environmental impact of TV sets, Simonson concluded that

HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012 31

sets with flame retardants actually are responsible for lower emissions of certain hazardous pollutants over their lifetimes than TVs without retardants. This is primarily because, she wrote, TVs with retardants are involved in fewer and smaller fires, so they produce less smoke.

Industry has repeatedly pointed to this study in addressing environmental concerns about flame retardants.

Simonson’s figures have been quoted far and wide. European regulators credited her statistics for prodding some international TV manufacturers to add flame retardants to sets sold in Europe.

O

ne of the few to question Simonson’s studies has been Tom Muir, a retired federal analyst for Canada’s environmental protection agency.

He translated bits of the Swedish study to English but said he couldn’t entirely understand Simonson’s methodology.

In an interview with the Tribune, Muir said the studies appeared to be “an elaborate, manufactured platform of assumption strings and assertions and extrapolations.”

When the Tribune provided Muir with a complete translation of the Swedish study as well as Simonson’s responses to the newspaper’s questions about her methods, Muir was even more critical.

“It’s worse than I thought,” he said,

32 HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012

noting that Simonson repeatedly estimated crucial statistics when solid data did not exist. “She’s just making these numbers up.”

Also critical of Simonson’s calculations is the author of the Swedish study that Simonson relied on in her work.

Ingvar Enqvist said in an interview that he did not know Simonson and the chemical industry were relying on the eight TV fires mentioned in his report as the basis for sweeping claims about the benefits of flame retardants, a fact he called “a little peculiar.” He also said Simonson shouldn’t extrapolate the eight fires to all of Europe, given the vast differences among the countries.

Simonson, who now uses her maiden name and goes by Margaret Simonson McNamee, is a research manager at the SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden. She denied Muir’s accusation of fabricating numbers but acknowledged using many statistical extrapolations and assumptions because, she said, solid data were scarce.

“We certainly did the best that we could given the data that we had available,” she said. She said a British study had found similar TV fire rates in various European countries, so she

thought it was fair to extrapolate the blazes in Sweden to all of Europe.

Simonson emphasized that her methods were transparent, allowing critics to redo her studies with different numbers if they like. “Part of the scientific process is having a dialogue and not necessarily being in agreement with your peers,” she said.

Besides receiving industry money for her research, Simonson chairs the science advisory committee of the National Association of State Fire Marshals, a group of American public officials that has worked closely with the chemical industry to push for wider use of flame retardant products.

But Simonson said she has never skewed findings to suit industry needs.

“Marketing material is something that they produce themselves,” she said. “Our research was independent research.”

Muir disagrees. “She’s never erring on the other side,” he said. “Her numbers are always pointing in the same direction – in industry’s favour.”

When chemicals receive bad publicity, industry has a go-to person: Dennis Paustenbach.

A veteran toxicologist and industrial hygienist, he has sided with industry on some of the most controversial health issues. Working for tobacco industry lawyers, Paustenbach

disputed federal regulators’ conclusion that second-hand smoking causes lung cancer in adults. His industry-supported work was used to cast doubt on the risks of some occupational exposures to benzene and asbestos.

“Industry loves him,” said Peter Infante, a former senior administrator with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. “They know what answer they are going to get. Nothing is ever harmful.”

For the makers of flame retardants, Paustenbach helped interpret data about whether a widely used retardant posed a risk to children.

In 2002, concerns had been growing about a flame retardant known as deca that was being added to TVs and other electronics. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wanted more information about possible health risks to children, and chemical manufacturers volunteered to collect data and present them to an EPA-sponsored panel of industry, government and university researchers.

For help, the chemical makers hired Exponent Inc., a California-based scientific consulting firm where Paustenbach served as vice president. After analyzing various ways children might be exposed to deca, including inhaling dust and chewing on consumer products, Paustenbach’s company wrote a 123-page report concluding the chemical posed little risk.

But its conclusions had a weak foundation: They were based to a large degree on a study of serum samples collected from just 12 adult blood donors in Illinois in 1988. Again, the chemical industry used a small sample to reach a broad conclusion.

In the Illinois blood study, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Stockholm University found that five of the 12 serum samples had detectable amounts of deca.

But when Paustenbach’s firm wrote up its report for the chemical industry, it flipped the findings around, emphasizing the seven samples where none of the chemical was detected.

“Given that the majority of serum samples tested had non-detectable levels of (deca), it is most likely that the majority of the U.S. population has very low, if not zero, exposure,” the report states.

The industry’s report also concluded –

In 2002, concerns had been growing about a flame retardant known as deca that was being added to TVs and other electronics.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wanted more information about possible health risks to children contrary to the conclusion of the Illinois blood donor study – that no further evaluation of the flame retardant was warranted.

When the EPA panel of researchers reviewed the industry report, many members objected. They said the risk to the nation’s children should not lean so heavily on just 12 blood samples, let alone samples from adults, who tend to be less vulnerable to chemical exposure. Some members also noted the samples were collected in 1988, when levels of deca in the environment might have been lower.

Industry officials “were trying to pull a fast one,” recalled panel member Ruthann Rudel of the Silent Spring Institute, an environmental research organization.

Publishing a paper in a peer-reviewed journal lends the results more credibility.

Paustenbach and five others wrote up the report as a scientific paper, but they did not note the panel’s criticism.

The paper was then published in the Journal of Children’s Health – a year-old publication edited by Paustenbach.

In an interview, Paustenbach said it

was appropriate to publish the report in a journal that he edited. He also defended the report’s use of the small sample of Illinois blood donors to cast doubt on the health risks of deca. “We did the best job we could with the available data,” he said.

Paustenbach is now president and founder of ChemRisk, a San Franciscobased consulting firm, and an adjunct professor of toxicology at the University of Michigan. Regarding criticism of his work for industry on controversial topics, he said: “It’s unfortunate there is such polarization in the environmental sciences on views on chemicals.”

After years of insisting deca posed little health risk, the chemical industry in 2009 reached an agreement with the EPA to phase the chemical out of products nationwide.

The journal that Paustenbach edited folded a few months after the questionable paper was published. Paustenbach said it closed because of competitive pressures.

It was in existence less than two years.

HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012 33

drive

barry spyker

Its performance on the road is remarkable and, as marketing folks like to say, it exceeded my expectations. I was not ready for a BMW-like kick, but I got one

Range Rover Evoque unexpectedly stunning

M

34 HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012

an alive! Land Rover has thrown us a real curve ball here.

When is the last time we saw a Land Rover, or any SUV for that matter, with head-turning looks and spunky performance – on the road and off? How about a Land Rover with a race-inspired powertrain – yet it’s a 4-cylinder engine that could get nearly 30 mpg on the highway?

And a sexy colour palette, topped by a full-length sunroof?

The 2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque is all new and appears to be an instant hit.

That’s appropriate: The lime green test car was more a beach star than a mountain climber. It elicited a nod, smile and thumbsup from two young dudes in a soupy Subaru.

Evoque has stunning looks: This crossover SUV has 19-inch wheels in sparkle-finish alloy, sleek lines and twin rectangular exhausts. Its compressed, Dodge Magnumlike roof looks like it was smashed into the rear cabin. That, by the way, shortens up on the rear-window height and slightly compromises visibility.

Add a devilish grille and steeply raked windshield and you have a bold and daring design, far better than the boxy LR2 that Evoque replaces.

Does it perform as well its looks advertise?

Oh, yeah.

Its performance on the road is remarkable and, as marketing folks like to say, it exceeded my expectations. I was not ready

for a BMW-like kick, but I got one.

It’s quick, and it only has a 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder engine – yes, a Land Rover with a 4-banger. But it’s turbocharged and puts out 240 hp and 250 pound-feet of torque. With the help of direct fuel injection and twin variable-valve timing, this little powerplant jolts you to 100 km/h in just over 7 seconds, the sort of performance once the reserve of V12 Jaguars and Ferraris a generation ago.

It feels even quicker. More important, it’s as agile as a big cat chasing down a zippy impala. It’s nearly as nimble as a roadster, handling corners flat and with a tacky grip.

Opt for the Adaptive Dynamics system, and the suspension adjusts for even crisper handling. Rotate to Sport, and the Evoque is good clean fun.

A six-speed automatic tranny, controlled with a rotary dial (think Jaguar), takes Evoque swiftly and evenly up the dials.

Steering is on the heavier side but responsive and precise.

All-wheel drive is standard and, while I did not take the Evoque off road, it comes with Land Rover’s Terrain Response system.

Like its big brothers, the system has settings to regulate the engine, suspension and traction to handle various off-road environments. It also has a hill-descent feature.

Motor Trend said it easily climbed rocks the size of watermelons and countered holes that could bury a wheelbarrow.

On the road, where most of us will be,

expect mileage figures in the mid to high teens around town, and high 20s on the highway.

Entering the Evoque at night offers a nice novelty: A small spotlight – featuring a Batman-like outline of Evoque’s profile – so one can ensure not to step into something before getting in.

Wouldn’t want to track anything into this sweet cockpit with is two-tone colour scheme and elegant, soft-touch materials.

The layout of instruments and dials is neat and similar to the Range Rover Sport. The touch-screen controls are a breeze to use, if a bit sluggish.

I loved the navigation system’s “take-me-home” button.

Unfortunately, even after programming in my home address, it would have gotten me hopelessly lost had I not known where I was going. Human 1, nav system 0.

Headroom and legroom are decent, especially up front. I strongly suggest choosing the four-door model over the coupe: The rear door is a must for easier access, and it’s more accommodating for passengers back there.

Stowage space is even less accommodating, dead last in the luxury compact SUV segment. Still, I found it deep enough even for larger suitcases.

Evoque keeps passengers safer with impact beams in all doors. Seven air bags include front and side curtain bags. Traction and stability control are standard.

Safety options include adaptive headlight that look around corners and front and rear parking sensors.

Evoque comes in a two-door coupe and a four-door, which I once again highly recommend. An SUV without the functionality of four doors will disappoint – you don’t realize how often you’ll want access to the midsection of the vehicle.

Both body styles come in the base plus and premium. The plus is loaded, though: Standard are 19-inch wheels, the Terrain

Response system, the parking sensors, panoramic sunroof, Bluetooth, 11-speaker sound system.

Opt for the premium and you get extras like blind-spot warning, 360-degree camera system for parking and 17-speaker sound system.

Then you can choose between two design themes: The Dynamic and Prestige. The Dynamic gets sportier colors and trim and offers a rear skid plate. The Prestige gets a bit classier with richer leather inside and more seat adjustments.

And that’s what the Evoque is all about. Badged as a Range Rover, it’s more about style and fun than sloshing through mud and bounding over rocks.

Still, don’t let this mini Rover fool you. It’s said to be a gutsy compact off-roader, and it’s fun to drive, too. A bit pricey, maybe, but all in all there’s a lot of bang for the buck here.

HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012 35

invest

peter hensley

If you own your assets jointly then those assets automatically go to the surviving partner. They don’t get tied up in the estate process. Assuming Michael arranges a new will then his estate will only deal with stuff he owns in his own name

Need for proper planning

36 HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012

A

s was their custom Jim and Moira would lend a sympathic ear to all who called at their door.

The circumstances varied but most would receive, along with the words of wisdom, a cup of tea, biscuit and a chat. Hospitality would be stepped up for family and close friends who could expect a full meal consisting of several courses.

The topic of “the chat” varied immensely – but the majority who sought their counsel left richer. It was as if Jim and Moira energized their guests with words of encouragement.

The universe had been kind to their family. Over the years hard word and diligence had been rewarded handsomely. Generations had transferred the baton with a semblance of order in that no one in living memory had passed before their time. It was almost as if they had been blessed in a most obscure manner. It was with this thought that Jim prepared the table in the conservatory for afternoon tea.

Friends of cousin Christopher had recently been advised of a medical prognosis that translated into less than 12 months to live for him. Christopher had suggested they call on Jim and Moira whom they had met once before.

Jim was a little dubious about the visit and said to Moira, “What can we do, we are not in the medical profession?”

Moira responded tersely, “There’s a lot we can do. Offer moral support, be a sympathic sounding board. We have a huge advantage over their close friends.”

Jim always enjoyed discussing topical

issues with Moira as she had a unique ability to distil facts, blend an element of understanding, mix in empathy and deliver a response which suited the circumstances.

“What would that be?” Jim asked inquisitively.

“We are not emotionally involved” Moira said.. “That allows us to be objective and practical.”

Jim hadn’t thought of that.

Moira continued, “I know you hadn’t thought about that, but you have other talents and that’s why, even though you annoy me sometimes, I still love you.”

Jim was chuffed. He and Moira had been together so long he had stopped counting.

Their hard work had been rewarded and their family had prospered, both financially and emotionally. Their three children had each procreated and some of their grandchildren were approaching university. He knew every-one had to die at some stage, yet he never had to face it head on. His siblings had dealt with the details when his parents died, similarly when his in-laws had passed over. It was a sobering thought, and whilst he was looking forward to hosting afternoon tea, there was a part of him that was apprehensive.

Jim was finishing off his chores and didn’t hear the bell announcing the arrival of their afternoon guests. He was too busy listening to the cry of the scavenging sea gulls from the beach. Moira brought the visitors through to the conservatory.

They each commented favourably on the aspect and view before taking a seat at the set table. Jim arranged a hot drink for

everybody and made sure there was an ample selection of home baking.

Moira broke the awkwardness by asking in her usual manner, “How can we help you today?”

Michael sat quietly as Margaret said in a soft voice, “Michael’s been told by the doctors that his life expectancy is less than 12 months and most likely six. He and I are keen to make the most of the time left. Your cousin Christopher suggested that you may be able to assist us and so that is why we are here today.”

Jim noticed that Moira directed the next question to Michael and asked “What have you sorted so far?”

Jim also noticed that Michael was pleased to be included in the conservation and he said “I would prefer to have no service at all, but if we have to have one, then I would make it family only.”

Moira responded, “We have a friend who is an undertaker and he told us recently that an increasing number of people are requesting just that. I do admire you for sharing that with us, but that is not what I meant. Have you made any adjustments to your financial affairs ?”

Moira said “One advantage that we have is that whilst we are supportive of your situation, we are not emotionally involved.

The obvious question is have you recently drafted a valid will?”

Margaret blurted out “Michael doesn’t have a will. He had one before we got married, but he never got around to signing a new one. It is a such an obvious thing and I never thought about it.”

Jim, thinking he had better contribute to the conservation and said “Marriage cancels out all wills, so that should be on top of your things to do. Should you die without a will the State decides who shares in the estate.” Jim went on to set their minds at ease. “If you own your assets jointly then those assets automatically go to the surviving partner. They don’t get tied up in the estate process. Assuming Michael arranges a new will then his estate will only deal with stuff he owns in his own name.”

Moira added “Do you have any life insurance, and assuming that you have a mortgage will it be enough to extinguish the debt?”

Michael said “Yes, not only that, as I was the main income earner we took out extra insurance and insured my salary. I wasn’t happy about paying the extra premiums, at the time but I

sure am pleased now. Margaret will be debt free and have about half a million in the bank. She should be fine”.

Moira shook her head and said “It’s not enough, she will have to go back to work at some stage.

Michael looked shocked.

Moira continued ”Think about it Michael, at bank rates that will generate less than half the average wage.”

Margaret said, “Michael, Moira’s right, I had worked it out. I am already working part time, so increasing my hours won’t be a problem. ” Jim was pleased the awkwardness had vanished and the conversation continued well into the afternoon. It became apparent that Michael had been dabbling in the stock market and held some shares in his own name. He questioned Moira about the viability of the Euro continuing and was pleased to hear that she was optimistic about the world’s financial future.

With Moira’s help they established a bucket list and were quite surprised as to the number of items on it already. Jim noticed that their guests energy levels had increased and whilst Michaels prognosis had not altered, their focus had changed and they were looking on the bright side.

Copyright © Peter J. Hensley January 2012.

This article is meant to be Class Advice and a copy of Peter Hensley ’s disclosure statement is available on request and is free of charge.

HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012 37

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38 HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012

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HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012 39

tech

LANDLINES ARE STILL LIFE LINES FOR MANY WORDS BY KIM ODE/MCT

D

ust always needs a place to land. Take the record turntable, rarely used, but there when you want to listen to some classic vinyl. Or the transistor radio. The sound quality is awful, but it’ll come in handy if a storm knocks out the power. The telephone?

Well, every once in a while, it does ring.

Sometimes you might even see it sporting a blinking light – if you ever looked.

“We got rid of our land line a couple of years ago because no one would listen to the messages,” says Deb Balzer, a publicist by trade. “We actually would have disagreements or discord because no one would listen to the messages, let alone pick up the phone. All of our friends have our cell, so we’d assume if someone was calling the house, it was a telemarketer or worse.”

Pity the telephone.

In New Zealand, mobile usage is now 110% of the population, thanks to some people now operating accounts on more than one network.

Those kind of stats make the cellphone the most popular electronic gadget owned by adults in the United States, according to the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project. No wonder that by December 2010, three of every 10 U.S. homes had only wireless telephones – an increase of more than 3 percent in that year alone, as reported by the National Center for Health Statistics.

Also: Even in homes that still have a traditional phone, one in six of them received all or almost all of their calls on mobile phones.

But there are reasons people keep a land line (which is a classic retronym, or term for something devised after a similar, but newer, thing has come into use).

40 HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012

Jan Russell says her household keeps its land line because they have two young boys “and we wanted to make sure that they could call 111 if something were to happen to us or their 78-year-old grandpa who lives with us.”

Russell raised a common concern: whether in emergencies, a cellphone could provide a location, especially if the caller can’t do so, or whether roaming affects that. The good news is that most cell- and smartphones now have GPS, or global tracking features. You can be tracked whether you like this “feature” or not.

Still, when time is of the essence, people worry that a cellphone might not be charged, the call might get dropped or that they might not even be able to find it. As with TV remotes, a cellphone never seems to be in the same place twice. It may be in the bottom of a cavernous purse, forgotten in the car (not that anyone used it there), or simply away with its owner, leaving a household incommunicado.

In this new world, “household” becomes an operative term. Back in the day, a phone number connected you to everyone who lived under one roof. Now, callers to homes without a land line need to decide whose cellphone is the best way to contact a family.

In some households, land lines may follow the arrival of children, especially when parents don’t want every homework question or “come out and play” call coming in through their cellphones.

When Amanda Lancette and her husband set up housekeeping, each used their own cellphones. “People could contact us directly and we didn’t miss having a land line at all,” she said. When they bought a desktop computer in 2000, however, they needed a land line for dial-up Internet.

With a baby in 2005, it made even more sense to keep the phone for her mother-inlaw, who cared for the baby.

“If we did get rid of our land line again, our (cell) phones would certainly become community property,” said Lancette.

“We already have the issue of missed texts and things because the boys are playing apps on our phones.” Still, once the boys are old enough to have cell-

phones, she says they’ll likely drop the land line.

Some people, such as DeAnn Player, keep a land line because “bundling” services helps reduce the cost of the cable bill. “The only time it rings is when it is a bill collector for whoever used to have the number,” Player said. “I couldn’t call home if I wanted to – I have no idea what the number even is.”

Still, there’s life left in the landline concept even now. American Richard Anderson has a cellphone, but still uses a land line because technology enables him to treat POTS as PANS – or his Plain Old Telephone System as Pretty Amazing New Stuff. (We’re not saying that either of these acronyms has caught on, just that they exist, LOL.) When Anderson’s land line rings, he and his wife get alerts with caller ID on their iMacs, iPods and iPads, and on the TVs with cable boxes. “Also, when someone leaves a voice message, Comcast sends a text translation of the voice message, along with a .wav file to listen to, and an e-mail to both my wife and me, which we can read on our iDevices or any PC hooked to the Internet.” For Anderson, this all is more economical than if he and his wife each had smartphones with data plans, adding that this enables them to “buy a lot of iStuff.”

At the very least, an old-fashioned telephone can double as a sort of retro chic design element. Balzer said she keeps a 1950s-era black rotary phone on her desk even after she shut off the service. “Now,” she said, “it’s simply artistic!”

HAS YOUR GET UP AND GO

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his can result in less oxygen and nutrients being delivered to muscle groups and organs, particularly in times of physical exertion. This can impact on our lives in various ways. Commonly people feel less energetic; many just feel like they are slowing down. Some find it takes longer to do the things they do every day.

A natural plant-based product, CardioMax® WS® 1442, 450 mg may offer a solution. CardioMax® has been shown to support physical activity for those who are prone to fatigue.(1) It enhances overall physical activity by supporting a healthy heart and cardio vascular system.(1)

A 2008 Cochrane review states WS® 1442 extract has significant benefits, when compared with placebo, as an adjunctive treatment.(2) Another study in 2003 showed that the use of CardioMax® increases maximum workload.(3) CardioMax® is rich in anti-oxidants, helps maintain normal and healthy blood pressure and pulse rate.(4) ports In summary CardioMax® supports and helps maintain overall good a health as well as a healthy heart and b for ble cardiovascular system. It is suitable all adults who want to care for and protect their heart health. o for ons There are no contra-indications

CardioMax® with prescription heart medication. It has an excellent safety profile and a high level of tolerance.(5) It is manufactured and marketed in Germany as Crataegutt® by Dr. Willmar Schwabe Pharmaceuticals. Last year this No 1 selling German natural heart care product had German sales in excess of 1,000,000 packets.

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PO Box 15-185, Auckland 0640. Ph: 0800 567 800. www.pharmahealth.co.nz Information: Email info@phealth.co.nz 1. Pittler et al Cochrane Library, 2008, Issue 1. 2. Cochrane Collaboration review (Issue 1, 2008). 3. Commission E. Monograph on crataegus folium.

The Complete German Commission E Monographs, Therapeutic Guide to Herbal Medicines. Blumenthal. 4. The American Journal of Medicine Vol 114 4 June 2003. 5. Eichstadt et al (perfusion) 2001.

TAPS NA 4580

HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012 41

online

with chillisoft accessing viral content through social media. When a large volume of

content is available around a news story from many sources, the spread of malware and viruses also increases. If you see a story or photo on a social network that seems suspicious or too unbelievable to be true, trust your gut. If you want to be sure, run an Internet search of the story and access it directly from a reputable source instead of clicking through via a social network.

5. Watch for Twitter direct message spam. We’ve all seen strange

tweets that appear to be a friend warning us of a “bad blog post” or “hilarious photo.” If you receive a tweet that seems out of character or suspicious, avoid clicking on the accompanying link, as the account may be compromised. Avoiding links spread by these breached accounts will help avoid exposing your log-in credentials as well. Also, be a good citizen of the online world and politely notify the account-holder that his or her account may have been breached to further help mitigate the damage.

SEVEN WAYS TO PROTECT YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS WORDS BY AMY GUTH/MCT

L

et’s not kid ourselves: The world is a complicated place and plenty of brilliant minds are on both sides of the law. Just when we think we’ve armed ourselves with smart passwords and digital savvy, scammers, spammers or hackers figure out yet another way to throw a wrench into things.

Here are a seven simple ways to protect your social media accounts from the most common issues while being a good neighbour to people in your social networks:

you store your password someplace safe so you can remember it.)

passwords will contain a combination of upper- and lower-case letters, symbols and numbers, are at least eight characters, do not spell anything and are not used on other accounts. Better to have “fhs239(ASTERISK)(GY9&mjg” as a terribly inconvenient password and never have an account breach than to have an easily remembered password and have your account compromised. (Just be sure

recently-updated security features, be sure to upgrade all browsers on your computer to the most recent version. The reason this is important: current browsers will have more up-to-date security features to help fortify any weak points within that browser that may be an access point. Spending a few minutes with this task now can save a lot of headache later.

1. Update accounts with unique, complex passwords. Ideally, updated

42 HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012

2. Review apps and add-ons regularly. Be sure to review all apps and

add-ons associated with your social media accounts at regular intervals, as each app and add-on is a potential access point for a security breach. Remove apps and add-ons you no longer use. In the event of a compromised account, immediately revoke access of apps and add-ons to further protect your accounts. Always use strong, unique passwords for apps, add-ons and other account extensions, too.

3. Make sure your browsers are current. To ensure access to the most

4. Use common sense when

6. Watch for Facebook “like” scams. Facebook will generally alert you

via a pop-up window and ask you to confirm your actions if it is not confident in a link you are accessing. If you have already mistakenly clicked on a link that added to your “likes and interests” on Facebook, you will need to edit your interests on your profile and remove any links to spam sites you may have acquired. Do this by selecting “edit my profile” by your profile image. Next, click “likes and interests” and remove anything suspicious. If you see something strange coming from the Facebook account of someone else, you know what I’m going to say: be a “Facebook friend” in the best sense and let the account-holder know.

7. Make sure your anti-virus software is current. Enough said.

Ultimately, the common-sense rules that apply to living also apply here: If you see something weird, speak up. If someone is in trouble, give them a hand. If it’s too good to be true, it very well may be.

Take time to care for yourself and your things.

From the director of Monster’s Ball and The Kite Runner

Hope is the greatest weapon of all

Based on the story of Sam Chides and his efforts to save children brutalised by the LRA

ON BLU-RAY & DVD APRIL 11 HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012 43 ©Roadshow Entertainment 2012

bookcase BOOKS EDITOR | michael morrissey

Challenging The Sign THE SIGN: The Shroud of Turin and the Secret of the Resurrection Thomas De Wesselow Viking, $37

It seems only yesterday that I was reading in my Commentary on the Catechism that there were two Rationalist (ie secular/heretical) explanations for Jesus’s Resurrection: the Swoon theory and the Hallucination theory. The Swoon theory has a battered, scourged and crucified Christ lurching out of the tomb thereby laying the foundation for the “myth” of his Resurrection.

Even that arch theological nineteenth century sceptic David Strauss thought this argument weak. The Hallucination theory has it that Mary Magdalene, Peter, Doubting Thomas not to mention Paul plus 500 witnesses were all hallucinating. Perhaps they had had a magic mushroom omelette before breakfast or had been drinking too much red wine?

The atheists too have been bringing up some supposedly heavy artillery – The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins and God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens. Both works are energetically shallow but have enjoyed considerable current popularity because of the prestige of their not unintelligent though ultimately dumb authors. Dawkins is a prime case of scientific arrogance. He thinks science has revealed how the universe works and in his view no God is needed to create it.

Apart from Dawkins’s foolishly confident atheism, students of the history of science may recall that around 1890 scientists thought they had successfully grasped the grand plan of the universe and all they had to do was colour in a few remaining spaces. Yeah, right.

The late nineteenth century scientists thought they had the universe sussed until Einstein came along. Placing this presumptive scientific attitude in a wider context, imagine if in Galileo’s day (early 17 th century) scientists thought they knew how the universe operated after the intrepid Italian had gleefully discovered the four moons of Jupiter with the newly invented telescope.. At the latest count, the number of Jupiterean moons is 66. The point at issue is that in five hundred years time, our contemporary science will seem as primitive to the scientists of 2600 AD as the science of Galileo’s time now seems

44 HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012

to us. Dawkins should grab his pension, have a gin and tonic and shut up about God. Every time he opens his mouth, he puts his foot in it deep enough to lethally damage his tonsils, not to mention his larynx.

Theologians (who should know better) have had their faith white-anted either by the Devil (the father of fibs) or through their own arrogance – Bishop Spong and Lloyd Geering are prime examples. These know-all dog collars have taken a soft, watered down, milquetoast view of Jesus Christ and God. In Geering’s not unsophisticated view, delivered in a slipper-soft voice – no fanatic he! – the eternal life promised by Christ exists in the profane now and not in the Sacred Eternal Moment which is only to be truly experienced after death. Geering has invented his own theological time machine and it’s about as valid as a grandfather clock that one day will fail to strike. In short, he is saying Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the divine trinity made Man, is no more than man. Heresy, anyone?

And let it be said that the Devil aka Satan is not a guy with a red skin and a pair of horns but a spirit, i.e. a being with no body and possessed of super human intelligence. He is said capable of producing simulacra of human beings, taking over human personalities without them being aware of it, interfering with telecommunications, simulating fake telephone calls, and warping human minds so that they think Christ is not God but a feisty carpenter who got into trouble with the Romans and that his Resurrection consisted of nothing more than a startling image on a piece of cloth which we now know as the Shroud of Turin. The scariest portrait of the diabolical is in The Devil Rides Out by Dennis Wheatley published in 1935.

Heresy is just another name for lies or deviations from theological truth. Atheists have their shrunken heads buried in eschatological sand and yet one day, as St Paul says, they will see clearly and not through a glass darkly.

Let us not forget that the nineteenth century was also ripe with clever non believers – from the formidable but wrongheaded Nietzsche (God is dead!) to theologian David Strauss to the vigorous rationalist Robert Ingersoll. And as well as God deniers, we now have Holocaust deniers and moon deniers who believe that a waving flag proves that a 3000-ton rocket never lifted off from the John F Kennedy Space Centre and never landed on the powdery surface of the moon. Historical knowledge has become a moveable feast in which (to temporarily mix a metaphor), the goal posts are shifted without warning every five minutes by either a deluded conspiracy blogger, or what’s worse, by an academic with his brain on fire with a new theory in which evidence is selected not according to scientific principle but as tendentiously as a Nazi eugenicist arbitrarily

HIS/mindfuel deciding who shall live and who shall die. The same sceptical put-on (or put down) has been laid at Alexander the Great’s feet (“He never existed!”) and I’m waiting with epistemological dread for some ambitious academic on the make with a shock/ schlock horror theory to allege that Genghis Khan, Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler never existed. You read it here first.

Which brings us to Thomas de Wesselow, who, unlike the Risen Christ he is so eager to consign to myth, presumably exists. There is no doubt de Wesselow writes with considerable intelligence, lucidity and with a plenitude of scholarly footnotes. However, the presentation of his evidence for a nonRisen Christ often uses tautologous or brutally reductionist arguments that are as filled with holes as a kitchen colander.

In essence, de Wesselow’s thesis is simple – the Shroud of Turn, widely considered a medieval forgery, is real and it was its presence in the tomb that led Mary Magdalene, Peter plus the apostles and disciples and later, Paul, to believe that Christ had risen from the dead.

De Wesselow uses some straw man arguments, eg he presents a weak case for the opposition then proceeds to knock it down with triumphant gusto. The belief in the Shroud is characterised as being on a par with “silly-season subjects such as Atlantis, yetis and UFOs”. Yet the author crows to the contrary, the Shroud “very definitely exists”. If this is an argument for authenticity, I am – to quote the unfailingly witty David Lange – a six stone ballerina in a tutu. Nonetheless, as de Wesselow gets into his laborious yet vigorous stride, his long and complicated arguments for the Shroud’s authenticity are convincing.

It’s the Shroud as Risen Christ that sticks in the craw.

His contention that images are often treated as living beings seems weak in the case of the Resurrected Christ. When it suits him, de Wesselow simply discards what the Bible says and repeats ad nauseam his Shroud theory. His arguments are like a gramophones stuck on a repeating chord. The testimony of the risen Christ, he writes, hangs on a “slender thread”. What is so slender about 500 witnesses?

De Wesselow repeats the unproven allegations that Jesus came from a large family, that James was his brother rather than his cousin, and that old Bloodline chestnut that Mary Magdalene was Jesus’s widow – all of these contentions are unoriginal and unproven.

When Luke refers to Christ eating a piece of broiled fish – proof that the “spook” is very much flesh and blood, Wesselow calmly declares, “Obviously a great deal of the narrative – including the eating and speaking – is fictional.” Excuse me? If the Deity exists and I, along with millions of Christians affirm and believe He does, than why should a demonstration of his physical return by eating a piece of fish be fictional? It is only “fictional” because non believer de Wesselow believes it is fictional. And this is hardly proof.

It is with St Paul that de Wesselow’s rampant scepticism surges past the post like a stallion on steroids: “Paul then did not see a bright light, did not fall to the ground, did not hear a voice calling him, did not go blind, and did not get led away by his companions:: these elements of Luke’s story all derive from scriptures. If we bracket them out, we are left with virtually nothing: the story is little more than a tissue of literary allu-

sions.” (Italics mine). But like most of de Wesselow’s arguments, blind faith is required to sustain their unproven veracity while proof is sadly lacking. The evidence of subsequent astronomical observation supported Einstein’s theories; de Wesselow has no evidence other than myopic declaration.

Here is de Wesselow at his most fatuous: “The conversion of Paul is the single most striking proof of the reality of the Resurrection phenomena. Surely, only an ‘objective vision’ as startling and incontestable as the Shroud could have transformed a rabid inquisitor into a fervent heretic overnight”. Really? How about the conversion experience as exactly described in the Bible?

Wouldn’t that be just as powerful if not more so than the Shroud?

De Wesselow stubbornly persists: “Paul’s words strongly suggest that what he saw was the Shroud.” I am waiting vainly for proof of this preposterous claim. In like manner, de Wesselow tells us, “There can no longer be any doubt the Shroud provides a visible solution to the age-old puzzle of the Resurrection.” Of course, if you are a believer, there is no puzzle. There is only gratitude and awe.

De Wesselow’s theory is sometimes blatantly circular and tautologous: “The Shroud has another major advantage: it takes account of the Shroud.” The blatant circularity of this statement makes it ludicrous. You cannot prove an assertion by merely repeating the same assertion. This is logic-less logic.

What de Wesselow forgets overall, is that if God made the universe, He can breach its rules any time He likes. He can suspend the earth’s spinning, arrange virgin births and ordain that the Son of Man return from the dead. De Wesselow’s aggressive secularity omits the Divine. He treats the Bible as a human document filled with human error which he alone has the authority to correct. Maybe it is not erroneous at all, but factual. In any event, de Wesselow’s theory about the Shroud remains just that – a non sustainable theory.

Imagine two sardines arguing the pros and cons of the existence of a giant blue whale. Just as their erroneous arguments for the non existence of such an improbable creature reach their apogee, the tiny fish are swallowed whole and disappear into the monster’s maw. In like manner, Christopher Hitchens, who I do not believe to have been a bad man, rather a deluded and sincere one, may even as we speak, be jostled by the company of benign angels and enjoying a mercifully allotted measure of the Beatific Vision to console him ever afterward for the pain of cancer.... now there’s a thought to heat the heart. Truly is the mercy of God infinite. So even de Wesselow may come to believe in the risen Christ who has warmed the world with his love – the Christ who is infinitely more than an image on a Shroud.

What de Wesselow forgets overall, is that if God made the universe, He can breach its rules any time He likes. He can suspend the earth’s spinning, arrange virgin births and ordain that the Son of Man return from the dead HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012 45

consider this

amy brooke

The primary school years are the most important to stimulate children’s intellectual curiosity, awaken them imaginatively, and to teach them, essentially, to be good people

“The Captain and the Kings” long gone…

I

46 HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012

s it is no exaggeration that the greatest enemy for any prospect of a firstclass education for New Zealand children – regardless of the usual excuses for some succeeding more than others – ( ethnicity, particularly activist Maori background, and parents’ socio-economic status) has been the bureaucracy of “professional” educationists misusing their positions to inflict their socio-political agenda on our young.

This has now been the case for the past 50 years in this country. What was once a well-thought, solidly-constructed, coherent curriculum underpinning all education practice became subverted in the hands of educational theorists who gained control of the Department, now Ministry of Education, headed by those responsible for forward planning, many of whom openly described themselves as neo-Marxist. Their names can be found in the literature of the 60s onwards.

Socio-economic status really has very little to do with a child’s chances to succeed – provided of course that it is taught enthusiastically and well. We should stress taught, not diverted to flounder around accessing the internet and having to perform tedious, mind-numbing tasks such as embarking on projects which relieve the teacher of the hard work of actually teaching well-prepared lessons, following quality planning.

It is true that deadbeat parents are a great hindrance to any child – and among these can certainly be found, sadly, activist or

gullible Maori parents brainwashed by the anti-European politicised Maori activists of the 60s onwards, many of whom themselves had the advantage of scholarships and university-backed education – today holding lucrative political, professional, or mediacentred positions – but who did enormous damage to disadvantaged Maoris by telling them to have nothing to do with the “Pakeha” system of education. This ill advice persists in the constant push to appropriate young part-Maori for Maori immersion schools with their fantasy-Maori language (how does one legitimately teach chemistry, physics, math, microbiology, dentistry and medicine in spurious, newly invented but pseudo-Maori?).

The hijacking of our state schools by socalled education professionals – (I noted when at university that these were very largely students and staff, often earnest and well-meaning, who would not have made the grade taking the hard choices of far more demanding courses – they were not, essentially, rocket scientists) – was highly destructive.

In the Twenties and Thirties when the Training Colleges’ far more demanding course requirements earned them a respect equivalent to the universities, highly intelligent individuals with good degrees opted for teaching as a genuine vocation. I recall my father, John Mora, a gifted, well-loved headmaster who had previously turned down the opportunity to lecture at Canter-

HIS/mindfuel bury University because of his genuine love for the young, his appreciation of their vitality, intelligence, and enormous intellectual curiosity – all of which – like other highly enthusiastic teachers – he thought it a joy to foster, to help them as far as possible along their way.

When my parents taught at what were then the Native Schools along the east coast of the North Island, his enjoyment of the spontaneity and keen intelligence of the young Maori children of the school-house Pa caused him many years later to proudly recollect that they had sent as many promising youngsters as possible down to the universities and training colleges. He also deeply regretted the government decree (in response to the senior Maori delegation that went to Parliament to request this) that the children were no longer permitted to speak Maori at school. His puzzled query to a local Maori elder, Sam Aupouri, brought the response that the elders wished the children to gain the same advantage as the other children from speaking English as a first language. When my father enquired what would happen to Maori as a result, he was confidently informed that they would teach the children Maori at home.

We know the result. All New Zealand taxpayers, of no matter what ethnic descent, are forced to pay many millions of dollars annually for the promotion of the far from authentic, newly invented pseudo-Maori of minimal use to young Maori, now used as tools by politicised iwi in their increasing push for separatism, media limelight, and ongoing taxpayer funding – provisions which formed no part whatever of the intentions behind the signing of the treaty of Waitangi.

The failure rate of so many part-Maori children can be directly attributed to the substantially inferior education foisted on our young for decades now by the ministry, together with the agenda of politicised Maori persuading parents to bypass mainstream education – instead of joining those working to re-establish a state education system to hold its own against those countries performing far better. These did not include other English-speaking countries such as the US, the UK, and Australia – all of which inherited the consequences of education becoming the tool of those interconnecting groups, worldwide, which long recognised the most effective way to subvert and bring down Western democracy was through the now wellquoted “long march through the institutions.”

However, the counter-revolution worldwide has now started, with far more success than is happening in this country, whose very smallness counts against it. There is no doubt that we have lost the intellectual flower of the country, not only in education but in the writers and artists in-groups dominated by the far Left, well supported by their contrived government funding, motivated by the politics of envy, and long working to bypass or ostracise genuine talent. We are all well aware of how out of touch are the leftist teachers unions, dominated by what can best be described as Lenin’s useful fools, implacably opposed still, to that rigorous quality education which gives all children, as far as possible, an equal opportunity, from the age of five upwards, each to achieve his or her potential to achieve.

In this respect, the primary school years are the most important to stimulate children’s intellectual curiosity, awaken them imaginatively, and to teach them, essentially, to be good

people, using all the tools available from the treasure house of fascinating discoveries passed down through generations, and in particular celebrating the best of the wonderful poetry and literature which continually evokes joy in the minds of those fortunate enough to have been given these gifts – when once we did have quality education.

Its day has long passed. Contrast when children are allowed to come in late to lessons…when a teacher can be faced with a sexual harassment suit for asking a girl pupil what has kept her…when children are allowed to chat pretty much unchecked throughout lessons…a teacher allowed to make a generalised appeal, but not to single out a talker by name...

With dumbed-down, politicised English classes having become media studies under the excuse of “communications ”; with teacher training focusing on the politics of race or gender and class; when university graduates with Ph.Ds can’t spell, punctuate correctly, or write a coherent essay, we are faced with the social and economic costs, the intellectual impoverishment of cheated individuals unable even to speak without sounding uncouth, a universe of great writing and thinking long withheld from them.

Our own counter-revolution is well overdue. But where, faced with our also profoundly ignorant and under-educated teachers, are there now the genuinely knowledgeable to lead it? © Amy Brooke www.amybrooke.co.nz www.100days.co.nz www.summersounds.co.nz http://www.livejournal.com/users/brookeonline/

HISMAGAZINE.TV June/July 2012 47